Yoga & Training

Oopsies, it’s been a while again. The reason being that I’ve just been so freaking busy! A few weeks ago I learnt that the Australian government is planning to change the application process for partner visas. My plan was to apply for the visa just before my current one expires next year. However, after chatting with some immigration lawyers about it, I decided it’s better to be safe and apply as soon as possible. So after that my boyfriend and I have been gathering as much evidence of our relationship as possible. Our friends and family had to write letter for us, we had to find all our flights, bus tickets, hostel/hotel booking etc. from the long distance relationship time. And these are only afraction of all the documents that we need to provide. And we still aren’t done.

Besides the application process, I started in a new job three weeks ago. Even though I think that change is always good, it’s also a bit challenging to constantly adjust to something new. And then on top of everything else that’s been happening I had a very shitty week this week but not going to open up about it here.

So in the middle of all this, it’s been a challenge to take time for myself. And when I don’t take time for myself, I get even more stressed out. That’s why this weekend’s agenda has been to take deep breaths and let go. On Friday night I spent about two hours on my yoga mat in candle light. I just flowed to very relaxing and meditative music and tried to relax my body and mind as well as I could. After that I felt so good, and I could feel how my stress levels started to go down.

Yesterday morning we picked a friend of mine up and were headed to Bondi Beach to do Bondi to Coogee walk. I’ll write another blog post just about the walk since I took quite a few photos! It was such a nice day because of the beautiful weather, good company and a great lunch we had. After an accidental afternoon nap I found myself back on my yoga mat. I started a 14-day trial with Alo Moves that has over 800 yoga classes online. I’ll be interested to see how I like it and if it provides a nice variety of classes.

Today the plan was to lodge the partner visa application as the first thing in the morning. But surprise surprise, the immigration website is shut down today. It’s a bit annoying but on the other hand I’m quite happy to have a real day off without having to do anything. I’ll try a couple more Alo Moves classes, go for a run to test my new wireless Beats headphones and relax with the help of Calm app.

It’s been a while! Even though there’s absolutely no need to explain myself, I still want to. It’s been a while because I haven’t had any motivation, whatsoever, to write my blog. There have been moments during the past couple weeks when I’ve felt incredibly uprooted. In those moments nothing else helps as much as dedicating all the free time I have to things that make me feel like home and to alone time.

It’s quite ironic to reflect back on my thoughts in January and to this post. Even though I still love routines, I miss the time when I had a freedom to basically only do things I enjoyed. My life has changed so radically during the last few months that sometimes I just need a moment to myself, a moment to just reflect on everything. And it always works wonders.

Besides all these not-so-happy thoughts the last few weeks have actually been very good! Sydney is starting to feel like such a nice city the more I get a chance to explore it. There are so many things to do in the city and the surrounding areas every week. And of course, there are so many cafés and restaurants to try! The only thing I’d want to change at the moment is the season. I’m so over winter, especially after coming here from European winter.

Anyway, here are some highlights from the last month.

We visited Blue Mountains National Park and did a 3-hour hike in the canyon through a rainforest. The views up the top are amazing! And of course had to visit The Three Sisters lookout to take some photos.

I’ve dedicated lots more time to yoga in the weekends. It has become such an important part of my life and wellbeing, so the more I have time to do yoga, the better. I’ve also taken classes again at the yoga studio near by, and I’m starting to really learn handstands!

Even though it’s winter and quite cold, most of the days are still sunny. And we all know that sunshine is a cure for everything and that it increases happiness levels. So I of course want to enjoy the sun as much as I can, either by having lunch outside at work, or going on walks and picnics on the weekends.

Week ago we went to a Vivid Sydney cruise. Vivid Sydney is a light show event that goes on for almost a month and starts in the end of May. On the cruise we enjoyed the views through massive windows on a glass boat and had a nice three course dinner. It was a super nice experience, but not something I would pay for again in the near future.

And then let’s talk about good breakfasts! I love mornings, and I’m always going to be a morning person. And I love breakfasts. Personally, I can’t understand people who skip this meal because why on earth would you skip something so special?! My personal favourite is always avocado on toast or Eggs Benedict. For a while I’ve wanted to try Celcius Coffee and Co in Kirribilli, and last Sunday this dream was finally realised. And oh boy was it a good place for a Sunday brunch!

So if I counted right, we have 18 plants in the apartment. I think that’s quite a decent number. The only hard part is trying to remember to water them all accordingly 😀 But as a list loving person, I’ve written a list of all the real plants and their watering schedule, and it seems to work quite well since none of them has died yet. But just for the record, the crazy plant lady is not just me, it’s mostly my boyfriend. A whole new side of him that I’ve got to know after I moved here.

I must admit that our living room and bedroom start to look super good! My favourite part about this interior is the colours. The living room is what I would call very Scandinavian with neutral colours and lots of white, whereas the bedroom is very different with dark wood and darker colours. And that couch!! Not only is it gorgeous, but also it’s the most comfortable one ever.

If you ever got to see my home in Finland, you’d know it was all black and white. So it’s funny what this sunny climate has already done to me 😀 I’m especially obsessed with different shades of green and blue!

P.S. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my previous post and especially all you who messaged me afterwards. Means the world to me! This week has already been so much better for various reasons, and I’ve felt so much happiness!

It’s already been 10 relaxing days in Salzburg. Besides visiting Gosausee on Sunday, I’ve worked out almost everyday, cooked delicious breakfasts and strolled around the streets of the city. And of course enjoyed wine.

My sister gave me Jennie Bittleston’s Secret of Yoga book for my birthday last year. I’ve finally had time to actually go through it, and I must say it’s a really helpful book! I could recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to practice yoga at home. I’ve never before had anyone teach me all the basic asanas so thoroughly, so I feel like I’m learning a lot. It’s also fun to learn all the asana names and practice them individually.

After starting to work out more and pay more attention to my diet, I’ve started to feel very energetic. For some reason I’ve battled with a weird exhaustion for almost a year now. I think my current life situation with very irregular schedule affects it a lot. And to be honest, I’ve also become a person who way too often “forgets” to eat. So I’ve decided to take the bull by its horns and pay more attention to my habits. That’s why green smoothies, nutritious breakfasts, regular eating and daily workouts are a big part of my days here. Besides going through the yoga book, I’ve been doing my normal Asana Rebel workouts as well as some weight training and running.

Last week we spend one afternoon in the city with my sister. I think Salzburg is one of my favorite cities just because of it’s beautiful Old Town and relaxed lifestyle. It’s (almost) perfect when it comes to weather as well, since they get a real winter, early spring and a long summer here. Tomorrow it should be a sunny day so we’re planning to go skiing. Yay!

My three favorite breakfast options at the moment are overnight oats, protein matcha pancakes and green smoothies. Even though it might seem very unnecessary, I really enjoy making my breakfasts look nice and not only taste good because it makes every morning a bit more special and luxurious. You can find the recipe for the matcha pancakes here; just replace chocolate powder with matcha powder. To make them even fluffier and more filling I added some oats in them today.

I’ve always been a big morning person who enjoys waking up early. So naturally one of the things I’m most excited about living in Australia are sunny/bright mornings. I think it makes a big difference to wake up early to sunshine instead of an alarm clock and darkness. Last week I also decided to change my flights to three weeks earlier. So only less than a month until I start building my life in Australia. So excited!!

I’m just on my way to Lappeenranta for a few days. It felt super weird to leave my roomies and empty room behind in Helsinki. I think it will take a couple of weeks before I realise I really am not coming back or seeing everyone soon again.

10 days in Helsinki went by super quickly and I’m grateful I got to hang out with so many of my friends in that time. Also, let me just tell you how time consuming and stressful it is to sell everything you own! It’s so frustrating trying to organize pick-ups with 50 people of whom so many will cancel last minute or just stop answering their phones. Oh dear god, hopefully I never have to do that again.

Anyway, here are some photos of my last days in Helsinki. Last Thursday I met up with a friend for lunch – we went to Story in the Old Market hall for salmon soups. On Friday morning, I attended a yoga class at Pranama with my roomie. It was a super nice, non-materialistic Christmas gift from her to take me there for one class. Pranama is a yoga studio where you pay what you can; they have recommended prices for everyone, and for example students are encouraged to pay 7-10 euros which is great! They even offer a free mat and all other equipments for your practice. I have been to Pranama now three times and I really recommend the place to anyone, even someone who hasn’t tried yoga ever before.

Later on Friday I threw a farewell party to gather all my friends at our place for the one last time. Had such a great night catching up with everyone but again I have to admit how I just don’t like going out anymore. Especially if there’s a high school party at the bar I’m going to 😀

On Saturday one of my friends visited me to catch up with me before I go. We accidentally had a block of chocolate for breakfast and I also made us super quick and delicious chia porridge bowls. I’ll share the recipe here later. 🙂 The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing and watching Modern Family on Netflix and cooking a yummy mushroom risotto.

Sunday was one of my favorite Helsinki days ever since my friends had organised a surprise farewell day for me. We started the day with a brunch full of very traditional Finnish dishes such as smoked salmon on dark bread, squeaky cheese with cloudberry jam and blueberry pie. After the brunch we were headed to Allas Sea Pool for sauna and some outdoor swimming in the middle of the city. I had never been there before (not to mention any other public sauna in Helsinki) so it was super nice to experience it before leaving.

Yesterday we met up with a group of friends to have a big breakfast at Fazer Cafe. I’m not the only one in the group moving abroad this year so it was probably the last time in a long while for all of us to be together. It’s so cool how everyone in the group is figuring out what they really want to do and making their dreams come true!

I also went to another yoga class at Pranama yesterday for one last time and had a couple of friends over in the evening. Today I had to check one more thing off of my Helsinki checklist by having a cup of tea in Cafe Regatta, my all time favorite cafe. And what a lovely morning it was to walk there with all the snow outside!

It just feels so surreal to actually leave and say goodbye to all my friends! At least I know Australia is on almost everyone’s bucket list and lots of my friends are already planning their visits. 😀

Most of us probably spend our days sitting at a computer. Whenever I spend a whole day in a library I find myself sitting in a really bad posture several times a day. And when I leave, I realize how stiff my body feels, how much my back and shoulders ache and how I can barely focus on anything anymore. I feel like my blood circulation has slowed down significantly and I’m in a serious need of fresh air.

Earlier I would probably have headed out for just a run or a workout at gym and not paid any attention to stretching, slowing down and breathing. Today I know how different workouts can support one another – you can’t compromise strength for flexibility or the other way around because you really need them both. However, the most important thing is that you enjoy what you are doing.

Anyway, to the point of this post: what are the real benefits of yoga (or some of them because there are so many)?

Improved flexibility and muscle strength

It’s not true that yoga is just about sitting in a lotus-pose and meditating. There are so many different varieties for everyone, even to those seeking more physical exercise. For example vinyasa flow and ashtanga are quite physical forms focusing on dynamic flows and binding the movements and successions together with breath.

It’s also not true that you should be very flexible to try yoga. I have always been very lazy when it comes to stretching (I regret it now and every time I’m experiencing some back pains) but I know that yoga will improve my flexibility along the way. The best part is that I don’t feel like I’m stretching when I’m doing practising. Also, all the cool looking poses and asanas shouldn’t be the goals but rather means of making you feel better. Learning them gradually will improve your patience, strength and flexibility along the way.

Yoga helps you to focus

Practising regularly will help you to focus. Why? Because the most important thing about yoga is the breath. And when you try yoga for the first time you really have to push your mind to focus on your breathing. And whenever you are practising your mind will probably start wandering a bit until you realise it was breath that you were supposed to be focusing on. Breathing right doesn’t only improve your ability to concentrate but it also has a meditative effect on your mind and it helps you to relax. And did you know that breathing is one of the best ways to detox our bodies?

Yoga improves your posture and increases blood flow

Especially twisting poses, backbends and forward bends improve your posture and help to tackle back pains. They also help to protect your spine and bring more flexibility to it. Twisting poses, inverted poses and asana flows increase the blood flow which brings more oxygen to your cells and makes you feel more energetic and happy. Also, the higher levels of serotonin due to consistent practice make you feel happier and help to tackle depression.